Simon Cowell would probably sell his mother if it meant he got a record deal for her. His latest apology for the way his show, "Britain's Got Talent", treated Susan Boyle, whose parents came from Donegal, has all the sincerity of a snake oil salesman regrettably telling you his product didn't work on your incurable cancer.

Simon of course is laughing all the way to the bank as Boyle battles her inner demons and may well lose. He doesn't care —: why should he — he's making millions out of the poor woman's very public agony.

Simon was pictured at Royal Ascot this week, the famous racing festival, where he was rubbing shoulders with the Queen and her minions. Dressed in top hat and tails, women swooning over him everywhere, it doesn't get any better than this.

Meanwhile a near-suicidal Susan Boyle is back home calling for her cat, Pebbles, her only shield against the darkness within. Does Simon really care? About as much as where his next sucker will come from to pad his ample pockets. It was Simon who created this nightmare.

He claims in his new column he never heard her sing or knew nothing about her before her initial appearance. I'd bet the biggest salt mine in Siberia that's a lie. Everything about Susan Boyle was a set-up now it seems, even the camera shots of astonished audience members when she first sang. Poor Susan was the only one who wasn't in on the sting.

But Susan isn't the only person that Simon has driven to distraction. Look at the YouTube video of 10-year-old Holly Steele breaking down when she fluffed the lyrics to her song in the semifinal.

Tell me this is not cruelty to children as you watch her break down. Tell me asking ten-year-olds to stand in front of a packed audience and millions on TV and indulging her stage mother is the right thing to do by a kid. Tell me, Simon.

Simon clearly thinks it is. The other acts are mild foolishness. The Stavros Flatley father-and-son act gets old very quickly after the first funny outing. Most of the shows' contestants are freaks, not talented people.

Remember what the Romans said about the two things society needs? Bread and circuses.